Statement by Environmental Defence’s Keith Brooks on a National Clean Fuel Standard

Toronto, ON – We applaud the federal government’s plan to develop a clean fuel standard. Along with commitments to carbon pricing and an accelerated coal phase-out, the clean fuel standard is a crucial part of a comprehensive national climate change strategy.

Promoting the use of lower-carbon fuels helps bend the curve towards Canada’s greenhouse gas reduction targets and helps our businesses, industries, buildings and vehicles operate more cleanly. The Clean Fuel Standard will be particularly important in driving down emissions in the transportation sector, Canada’s second largest source of carbon pollution.

However, the proposed clean fuel standard will not differentiate between life cycle emissions of different sources of crude oil. This means that carbon-intensive types of fuel, such as tar sands crude, will be treated the same as conventional fuels even though their upstream emissions are much higher.

Reducing emission from transportation is essential, but the largest source of carbon pollution in the country is oil and gas production. It’s inconsistent to take climate action in one sector while enabling emissions increases in another. The progress to be made by a clean fuel standard could be completely negated by approving tar sands pipelines like Line 3, Kinder Morgan and Energy East.

We look forward to working with stakeholders to make the low-carbon fuel standard part of a comprehensive pan-Canadian strategy and ensuring the regulations for the clean fuel standard account for the full carbon lifecycle of different types of fuels.

About ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (www.environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is Canada’s most effective environmental action organization. We challenge, and inspire change in government, business and people to ensure a greener, healthier and prosperous life for all.